Adivice for my daughter with PHD defence...

[recycled sixtie]

Can any of you Phd types give me advice to pass on to my daughter re her defense of her Phd dissertation which she does in early September?

The advice I have given her so far(my wife and I have Bachelor degrees) is to know her dissertation thoroughly- ie knowledge content.
The second component is great presentation. Practice in front of friends and in front of the mirror.

In addition there is a question period. I have suggested that she write down 20-30 questions and answers and practice these as well.

Any other advice from PHD types would be really appreciated.

[jorian]

No advice, but congrats to you and your daughter.

[pavulon]

If her dissertation involves statistical analyses, knowing the nuts and bolts of statistical equations used will be important, particularly if a statistician is on the committee. Also and at the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, google 'dissertation defense'.

[Jfporco]

First congrats! Dedication, perserverence, and a bit of insanity are all required to complete the "Piled Higher and Deeper" degree. It's been over 25 years since I finished, but what I learned in my doctorate defense was that my committee was not particularly interested in my ability to recite theories, or the names of scholars living and deceased, but rather academically defend my topic, my subject knowledge, and why I deserve to be a contributing part of the academic community. She must see herself as the expert of her dissertation topic so be prepared to defend it from a philosophical, methodological, and scholarly standpoint. how does her work advance academic thought, what are the weak points of the dissertation and how do they impact (if at all) the conclusions and overall hypotheses? Is her dissertation a departure from existing thought in her field, or are they confirmatory? If it is a departure from existing thought, why is it better than current thought/theories. What does her work offer the academic community and how does it help advance knowledge in her field.

I realize these are general thoughts, but my experience was that my committee was looking for my ability to academically defend my work, my position, and my potential contribution as a scholar to the academic community. She is 90% of the way there...the last 10% is validation...

Like is said its been over 25 years.
The good news is that the twitching and nightmares typically go away after 4 or 5 years. LOL

[Aurel]

She can study and mention the publications of the referee members. They always like to be cited...

[fintstone]

Originally Posted by Aurel

She can study and mention the publications of the referee members. They always like to be cited...

This^^^.

[recycled sixtie]

All good ideas thanks very much!

[M.D. Holloway]

Just have her use all sorts of footnotes and reference this:

https://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Industrial-Terms-Michael-Holloway-ebook/dp/B00B9TS0R6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469249573&sr=8-1&keywords=dictionary+of+industrial+terms#navbar

(I must get 10 to 15 citations a month and half are PhD and MS students using this as a reference!)


Seriously though, provided her advisor is good, this is merely a formality. Some Universities let you pick the review committee while others don't.

Congrats to her! A long haul worth it.

[Pazuzu]

1) She should know this subject back and forth anyways, it's the only thing she's thought about for 18-24 months.
2) Her committee should be 60+% supporters. Her adviser, 2 or 3 professors in her department, 2 or 3 in a "sister" department, and 2 or 3 that don't know her from Eve and who will cause trouble
3) Her adviser should help steer the discussions
4) Someone will spends lots of time trying to debunk her because professors, by and large, are petty vindictive annoying twits. There is always one a$$ on the committee.
5) The defense is basically formalities, her adviser would not let her defend if the project and research wasn't solid enough. No one wants to sit in a defense that isn't going to be accepted as is, or with minor changes.

[tabs]

Whs t is her field of study.

[Matt Smith]

Not shoes.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by tabs

Whs t is her field of study.

The field of study and her job application....

Tabs I will ask my daughter if it is okay to state what her Phd thesis is about before I release it here.

She does not want to be a psychologist but likes doing research and her major is in psychology. She was encouraged to ask for a higher salary than she was offered but was declined and had to accept the low end of the range. She likely got the job because she is well qualified with the Phd coming up, some applicants would not take the lower range of the salary and the Med faculty of the Univ of Alberta gets her talent relatively cheaply. She has been published fourteen times. Being aged 27 she has lots of energy and gets results quickly. She accepted additional projects from her boss while she worked on her thesis.

I downloaded all your replies and printed them out last night and handed them to her.
This girl does not quit. Now she is talking about getting an MBA because she feels her area of work would require it. Again thanks to you all.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by Aurel

She can study and mention the publications of the referee members. They always like to be cited...

That is a great suggestion.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

1) She should know this subject back and forth anyways, it's the only thing she's thought about for 18-24 months.
2) Her committee should be 60+% supporters. Her adviser, 2 or 3 professors in her department, 2 or 3 in a "sister" department, and 2 or 3 that don't know her from Eve and who will cause trouble
3) Her adviser should help steer the discussions
4) Someone will spends lots of time trying to debunk her because professors, by and large, are petty vindictive annoying twits. There is always one a$$ on the committee.
5) The defense is basically formalities, her adviser would not let her defend if the project and research wasn't solid enough. No one wants to sit in a defense that isn't going to be accepted as is, or with minor changes.

Great encouragement Paz.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Matt Smith

Not shoes.

Your being insulting.

[RF5BPilot]

Some good advice here. She should keep in mind that:

1. Technically, the committee wants her to be successful -- but they don't want to be embarrassed that they let through a shoddy piece of work and that they want others to see her as a good example of what their program(s) can produce. Their job is to produce Ph.D.'s. If they can't do that, they won't have jobs.

2. She should know her thesis issue better than anyone else on the committee. Assuming she knows who's going to be there, make sure she knows if anyone has a particular axe to grind about her topic or area. Her thesis advisor should be able to give her a head's up--especially if she asks. But it should be easy for her to do a quick review of the publications of committee members to anticipate their bias/interests. I'm not sure I'd be quick to cite their work. Just know what their issues might be if you can. Nevertheless, she should still know her specific issues better than anyone else in the room.

3. OK....this is an absolutely weird, off the wall suggestion. But my wife was going through a similar oral defense. She knew that a guy on the committee was an a$$; they had squared off before. But, she was forced to be polite to him despite almost ad hominem attacks from him. She called me from her hotel room the night before the defense and was in tears worrying about the guy and trying to keep her anger about him under control, anticipating a scathing attack. I had her get out a magic marker and write, "F'k You" (no abbreviations) on her underwear. That way, the entire time she was sitting there being polite and smiling at the guy, her underwear was screaming, "F'k You!!" Oddly -- she came back thrilled. It worked. Got her to focus on the issues and not the personal relationships. Over the years, I think she's had no fewer than 14 other graduating students do the same thing when faced with an oral defense in front of unpleasant committee members.

[fintstone]

I write that on my wife's underwear too.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by RF5BPilot

...But, she was forced to be polite to him despite almost ad hominem attacks from him. She called me from her hotel room the night before the defense and was in tears worrying about the guy and trying to keep her anger about him under control, anticipating a scathing attack. I had her get out a magic marker and write, "F'k You" (no abbreviations) on her underwear. That way, the entire time she was sitting there being polite and smiling at the guy, her underwear was screaming, "F'k You!!" Oddly -- she came back thrilled. It worked. Got her to focus on the issues and not the personal relationships. Over the years, I think she's had no fewer than 14 other graduating students do the same thing when faced with an oral defense in front of unpleasant committee members.

That is really quite something. Well done.

I have never defended a dissertation at the PhD level. I did have to defend my thesis for my masters at Johns Hopkins so this may help, in concert with all the really good advice already offered:

They can't take away your birthday.

She will be the same person coming out as she is going in regardless of the outcome.

Your description of your daughter and the calm demeanor you have exhibited here tilts the playing field a tad. She will do very well.

I would, however, invoke the RF5B rule

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by tabs

Whs t is her field of study.

Her thesis title is Tools and resources to prevent childhood obesity in primary care.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by tabs

Your being insulting.

And not grammar/spelling.